


Expiry Letters

by tigereyes45



Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age - All Media Types, Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: Angst, F/M, I ship them but I know not everyone does, This was the result of a prompt, can be seen as platonic or romantic, minor angst I suppose
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-26
Updated: 2019-07-26
Packaged: 2020-07-20 00:17:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 871
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19982929
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tigereyes45/pseuds/tigereyes45
Summary: "I imagine camping out is starting to take its toll on you. How you have made it this long amazes me. I was thinking about you recently and decided perhaps its time you had a chance to sleep under a roof again! I have a lovely little room above the inn in Skyhold all to myself. There’s plenty of space for two.Alright, I can already hear you urging me to get to the point. I would love to keep talking up my room and bed. As you know well know, I am quite convincing. I can make even a pile of shit sound comfortable on paper. However, I can’t lie to you Hawke. There’s no escaping the truth. It’s Corypheus. He survived somehow. The Inquisition needs your help to defeat him. I swear it’s safe for you to come. I wouldn’t write you if I thought otherwise. Please send a reply soon,Your trusty dwarf,VarricP.S. How is Junior? Word is the Wardens are having troubles. Let me know if the squirt is safe. WE professional little brothers must stick together."





	Expiry Letters

**Author's Note:**

> The prompt was to write your favorite character three days before their death and I wasn't killing Varric. Fight me. I'll kill him a different day.

Hawke heard the calls before spying the bird. A hawk with a red ribbon on its leg. Its calls are familiar to her ears. The same calls it gave when Varric had first found it. She has to think about the call. The old training one he had taught her. Was it a low long whistle, or four short sprouts of a high pitch call? They were both used for something. She decides to try both. The low long whistle works a charm the second time.

Her eyes follow the hawk’s descent. IT dives as if going in for the kill. Dives all the way until it was a mere foot above her. His wings pull out as if they were cloth being blown out by the wind. The sudden deceleration causes Hawke to step back. The bird of prey merely calls out jestingly. It’s mocking tone carrying the form of Varric’s laugh within it.

“Hey now,” she holds out her armored arm. It lands roughly. As if landing had never been part of his training. His claws dug into her leather gear and for a moment Hawke wishes she had used the metal covered arm instead. “I see you bring news. Been months since your last visit. He better have a damn good reason.” Her muttered complaints are met by his pecking. He digs right under her arm. His beak scratches against her skin before she shakes him off. “Patience to damn,” She sighed. It was heavy and exhausted as if camping in the middle of the woods hadn’t tired her out in every way before then.

“Here’s you treat. Now sit nearby as I write my reply.” She had yet to read the letter, but the hawk didn’t know. She throws him a bit of Halla jerky she still had from dinner a few nights ago. “Happy?” It swallows the small bit of meat whole. It was almost as annoying as Carver. How Varric ever saw any similarities between herself and the bird was beyond her imagination. Well besides their names.

HEr nose draws her attention back to the letter. It smells like all of Varric’s usual scents. Old pages mixed with fresh ones. The undertone of HIS ink. The only kind he ever used for writing. He must be working on a new manuscript. Hopefully, his attention has finally shifted from her escapades. There was something else clinging to the letter. Smoke. He must have written this next to a hearth or campfire of sorts. He must have been in a hurry if he chose not to write her in the privacy of his room. She opens the letter hastily. Hoping word was that they could finally return home. Or at least some sort of good news. She was sorely disappointed.

_ Dear Hawke, _

_ I imagine camping out is starting to take its toll on you. How you have made it this long amazes me. I was thinking about you recently and decided perhaps its time you had a chance to sleep under a roof again! I have a lovely little room above the inn in Skyhold all to myself. There’s plenty of space for two. _

_ Alright, I can already hear you urging me to get to the point. I would love to keep talking up my room and bed. As you know well know, I am quite convincing. I can make even a pile of shit sound comfortable on paper. However, I can’t lie to you Hawke. There’s no escaping the truth. It’s Corypheus. He survived somehow. The Inquisition needs your help to defeat him. I swear it’s safe for you to come. I wouldn’t write you if I thought otherwise. Please send a reply soon, _

_ Your trusty dwarf, _

_ Varric _

_ P.S. How is Junior? Word is the Wardens are having troubles. Let me know if the squirt is safe. WE professional little brothers must stick together. _

Her heart feels heavy. She rereads his words several times over. How had Corypheus survived? They had checked everything thrice over. He was dead, only he wasn’t. He lived somehow and that was on her.

She writes that she’ll be there in two days time. A day and a half if she can find a cheap mount. Hell she would even steal one at this point if need be. At least she could travel alone. Aveline and Carver had already separated from her to the North. She was alone, for the second time in her life. Well at least she’ll have Varric by her side again soon. They could figure this out together.

As they always did.

* * *

How was she supposed to know what would happen? That when it came down to the line her life would be thrown aside. That the last image she would see was the nightmare of Varric and Carver dead at her feet. Her magic burning the world down around them.

Who knew her life would be sacrificed at the hands of a nightmare demon. Just a simple three days after she was called upon. Certainly not Varric. He never forgot it though. That Hawke died as she lived. A hero, who was so self-sacrificial even her last request was for him to be watched after.

**Author's Note:**

> Here was the full prompt given: Write your favorite character (oc or fandom) three days before their death. What's changed in their life? How are they the same? Do they know they're going to die? Or is it just another day?  
> 1000 word max
> 
> It was for a contest in a writing group I'm in.
> 
> I hope you all enjoyed.


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